Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 1
Walnut Street Jail
•Solitary was first introduced in 1790 at the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia
•It was seen as a humane alternative to overcrowded jails, whippings, and public humiliation.
Eastern State Penitentiary
•ESP opened in 1829 as an all‐solitary prison.
• Men were kept alone in their cells to contemplate their sins, seek forgiveness from God, and become “penitent.”
Total Isolation
•Prisoners were permitted no possessions, only a Bible.
•When escorted outside their cells they wore hoods over their heads.
•This was the first system designed to reform, instead of solely to punish.
“The unfortunates, on whom this experiment was made, fell into a state of depression;…their lives seemed in danger, if they remained longer in this situation; five of them, had already succumbed during a single year; their moral state was not less alarming; one of them had become insane; another, in a fit of despair, had [attempted suicide]. “
“This trial…was fatal to the greater part of the convicts:…this absolute solitude, if nothing interrupts it, is beyond the strength of man; it destroys the criminal without intermission and without pity; it does not reform, it kills.”
“I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers…
“I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and…I denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay. “
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 2
The Auburn System
•Prisons began to abandon solitary in favor of the “Auburn System”: daily hard labor in groups, where prisoners worked silently and march in lockstep.
•By the late 19th
century, long‐term solitary was rare.
Surveying the use of long‐term solitary, the Court found that “a considerable number of the prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi‐fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide; while those who stood the ordeal better were not generally reformed, and in most cases did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent service to the community.”
Alcatraz
•“The Rock” opened in 1934 to house the “worst of the worst” of the federal prison system.
•“The Hole” at Alcatraz was notorious, but most prisoners were not in solitary confinement.
The Marion Lockdown
•Opened in the 1960s to replace Alcatraz, Marion went into lockdown in October 1983 after the murders of two guards‐‐and remained that way.
•States began to imitate the permanent lockdown model.
Pelican Bay
•Opened in 1989, Pelican Bay was among the first to be purpose‐built as a supermax.
•It houses more than 1,200 prisoners in solitary confinement, in windowless concrete cells.
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 3
“Begin by over‐crowding the prisons with unprecedented numbers of drug‐users and petty offenders, and make sentences longer across the board.
“Dismantle many of the rehabilitation and education programs so prisoners are relatively idle.
“Add to the mix a large number of prisoners suffering from serious mental illness.
“Obstruct and restrict visiting, thus cutting prisoners off even more from the outside world.
“Respond to the enlarging violence and psychosis by segregating a growing proportion of prisoners in isolative settings such as supermaximum security units”....
“Ignore the many traumas in the pre‐incarceration histories of prisoners as well as traumas such as prison rape that take place inside the prisons.
“Discount many cases of mental disorder as ‘malingering.’
“Label out‐of‐control prisoners ‘psychopaths.’
“Deny the ‘malingerers’ and ‘psychopaths’ mental health treatment and leave them warehoused in cells within supermaximum security units.
“Watch the recidivism rate rise and proclaim the rise a reflection of a new breed of incorrigible criminals and ‘superpredators.’”
SupermaxBoom
•Rapid growth took place in the 1990s and early 2000s.
•44 states and the federal system now have stand‐alone supermaxprisons.
•Hundreds of other prisons and jails have solitary confinement units.
Study of prisons in Arizona, Illinois & Minnesota
Time series analysis (Briggs, Sundt & Castellano, 2003)
Inmate‐on‐inmate assaults: no decrease in any of three states
Inmate‐on‐staff assaults dropped in IL, remained same in Minn, rose in AZ.
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Improve institutional safety. Removing and isolating bad apples will reduce violence system‐wide. Known as “concentration approach” to prison management, i.e. house worst of the worst together
Deter other inmates from violent acts.
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Solitary Confinement in the United States Today
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 4
2005 census by the Bureau of Justice Statistics: 81,622 individuals held in “restricted housing” in the nation’s prisons.
2005 study: 25,000 of these segregated prisoners held in supermax prisons around the country.
Figures do not include local jails, immigrant detention centers, juvenile facilities or military facilities.
True total is likely to be over 100,000.
Administrative Maximum
Special Housing Unit
Security Housing Unit
Restricted Housing Unit
Intensive Management Unit
Behavioral Management Unit
Communications Management Unit
Disciplinary or Punitive Segregation: Punishment for violating prison rules
Administrative Segregation: Based on gang affiliation, political beliefs, original crime, or other classifications
Involuntary Protective Custody: “Protection” for vulnerable people in prison
The World in a Cell
•Most cells measure less than 8 x 10 feet—the size of a parking space.
•Work, education, and rehabilitative programming are banned.
•TVs, radios, and reading materials may or may not be permitted.
Lockdown 23/7
•Prisoners spend 22 to 24 hours alone in cells.
•They exercise alone in a walled or fenced enclosure resembling a dog run.
•Visits with family are forbidden or severely limited.
No Way Out
• Many cells have no windows.
•Some cell doors have bars, but most are solid steel.
•“Food slots” are also used for communication with guards, medical treatment, and psychotherapy.
•Drawing by Martin Vargas.
The United States is the only democratic nation to practice solitary confinement on a large scale.
In the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, solitary is largely allowed beyond 3 weeks.
In the entire, UK, there are fewer than 40 people in long‐term segregation
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 5
Solitary in Europe
•In Norway, mass killer Anders Breivik’s cell has 3 adjoining rooms, including a study and a fitness room with treadmill.
Research since the 1970s shows that that solitary confinement alters neural networks in the brain and therefore psychological states.
Prisoners exhibited decreased EEG activity after just 1 week.
Prisoners exhibit psychopathology at much higher rates than those in the general population.
social withdrawal
panic attacks
irrational rage
loss of impulse control
paranoia
hypersensitivity to external stimuli
severe and chronic depression
difficulties with concentration and memory
perceptual distortions and illusions
In New York, suicides are 5 times higher in solitary.
In California, about 5 percent of all prisoners are in solitary—but up to 70 percent of suicides take place there.
Teens are 19 times more likely to commit suicide when placed in isolation.
Self‐mutilation in the form of cutting, otherwise unknown among adult men, is common practice in solitary confinement.
Prisoners in solitary have been known to bite into their own veins and cut off their fingers and testicles.
California
Gang “validation” based on tattoos or reading materials
Possession of five dollars or more without authorization
Participation in a strike or work stoppage
Self mutilation or attempted suicide for the purpose of manipulation
New York
Failure to obey an order promptly
Testing positive for marijuana
“Reckless eyeballing”
Refusing to return a food tray
Possession of an excess quantity of postage stamps
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 6
Prisoners with mental illness or developmental disabilities
Children who misbehave or who are deemed to be in need of “protection”
LGBT individuals
Non‐English‐speaking prisoners
Muslims, including but not limited to those accused or convicted of terrorism‐related offenses
Prisoners who hold “radical” political beliefs or seek to challenge prison conditions
Anyone who complains of abuse by prison officials
Isolating the Mentally Ill
•Up to 1/3 third of prisoners in solitary in state prisons suffer from underlying mental illness.
•Most will decompensate further as a result of being placed in isolation.
More likely to incur disciplinary infractions More likely to have adjustment problems: higher rates of suicide & self‐harm
More likely to be victimized More likely to be infracted for symptomatic behavior
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“Mentally ill inmates are easily exploited, extorted for their money, sodomized, you name it.” —Captain with 25 yrs on the job
“We don’t want him here stinking up the cellblock. Either you take care of him or we will.” —Comment from an inmate to a deputy superintendent
Insufficient and/or unqualified staff Stigma: seen as weak by other inmates Medication main form of treatment; dosage and side effects insufficiently monitored. Results in lack of compliance.
Residential mental health programs reserved for docile inmates only
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Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 7
Mentally ill inmates are 2 to 5 times more likely to end up in supermax or solitary confinement than non‐mentally ill inmates.
In NY, prior to 2007 lawsuit and enactment of the SHU bill, mentally ill inmates represented 11% of general population inmates but over 30% of supermax inmates.
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Psychiatric “Treatment”
•Treatment, if any, often consists of “therapy” conducted through a feeding slot, or “group therapy” sessions in adjoining cages.
Children in Solitary
•Thousands of kids under the age of 18 are held in solitary confinement in adult prisons and jails, for “their own protection” or as punishment.
•Hundreds more are held in isolation in juvenile facilities.
Immigrants in Solitary
• Many of the 400,000 people in the immigration detention system each year spend time in solitary, with no due process and no recourse.
•Some are asylum‐seekers who have been tortured in their countries of origin.
In addition to its human costs, solitary confinement is expensive, in large part because of added staffing costs.
One study estimated that the average per‐cell cost of housing an inmate in a supermax prison is $75,000, as opposed to $25,000 for an inmate in the general population.
It costs $92,000 per year to hold a prisoner in solitary at Illinois’s TammsCorrectional Center‐‐two to three times more than at the state’s other maximum‐security prisons.
The Solitary confinement of some 12,000 state prisoners costs California taxpayers an additional $175 million per year.
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 8
Amnesty International
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
Center for Constitutional Rights
Human Rights Watch
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Physicians for Human Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
UN Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)
UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR)
Mendez reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights
In October 2011, he called for a total ban on solitary for juveniles, mentally ill, pre‐trial detainees.
Solitary should be limited to 15 days for everyone else, and used only for safety purposes.
June 19, 2012: “Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences”
First Congressional hearing held on solitary, with testimony from corrections officials, legal experts, psychiatrists, survivors
Solitary 101: Presentation by Jean Casella, Solitary Watch
11/9/12
Solitary Confinement and Human Rights 9
Mississippi
Years of litigation by the ACLU
Joint involvement of DOC, ACLU, psychiatrists, health care providers and prison experts in “reclassification” of prisoners in solitary
Result: 75 percent reduction in solitary confinement
Maine
Grassroots activism
Press exposé
Legislation introduced and study commissioned
New leadership at the DOC
Result: 50 percent reduction in solitary confinement
Activism in Illinois
•Grassroots activism by TammsYear Ten
•Litigation by Uptown People’s Law Center
•Press exposé
•Concern over high cost
•Action by governor
Activism in California
•Hunger strike by group in solitary spreads through prison system
•Grassroots activism
•Amnesty International Report
•Widespread press coverage
Activism in New York
•Litigation and legislation to limit solitary for people with mental illness
•Grassroots activism on state and city levels
•NYCLU report
•Press coverage
•Meetings with legislators